That's because for the last 17 years she starts the holiday by volunteering at St. Mary's Dining Room, helping bring a special, holiday meal to those who are less fortunate.

She doesn't come alone, either. It's a family tradition to start the day volunteering at the dining room. Over the years, Flores has brought her brothers, sisters, daughters and a half dozen nieces and nephews with her on Thanksgiving morning. Her oldest daughter drives out from San Francisco the night before to take part. Flores' 15-year-old daughter is a 10-year veteran of volunteer work.

The next generation will join the ranks in two years, said Flores, dividing her attention between a Record reporter and Ryder Hart, her 3-year-old grandson, during a recent interview while volunteers readied the dining room for the daily meal. Salma Flores, the 15-year-old daughter, was in the kitchen.

St. Mary's doesn't just serve meals on Thanksgiving Day, and it could always use more help from volunteers throughout the year, Yolanda Flores said.

Flores moved to Stockton as a teenager with her family in 1976. Today, the 53-year-old is a self-employed tax preparer.

She urges others to give volunteering a try, saying getting involved is one way to make Stockton a better place. And it doesn't stop there.

"Do it for your community, because our community needs it. Do it for yourself. And do it for your own kids. Teach your kids how lucky they are to have parents, to have a house, to have a family. To be able to spend Thanksgiving with your family when there are tons and tons of kids that can't," she said. "Do it and you will see. It will make you a better person."

In the past 17 years, Flores volunteered with members of her family at 15 Thanksgiving Day meals at St. Mary's.

Question: Describe how your typical Thanksgiving Day starts.

Answer: We usually get up around 6 o'clock in the morning and we're here by 7 ... We go outside and start giving hot chocolate and pastries to everybody, (because) there's already a line there. Around 10:30 we finish up outside ... We come in and take charge of the pastry department, so when lunch starts they can start passing the pastries out. Then I go back (in the kitchen) and start helping serving the food.

Q: Why do you do this?

A: It's so many things. I just feel I'm so blessed ... I have a family, I have a home, I have a hot meal to come home to every year. I'm so blessed. I just feel like I have to give something back. I want to make somebody smile. I want to make somebody feel important, at least for one day, like somebody cares about them.

Q: What do you want your family to learn by doing this?

A: First is that we're so blessed ... And second, is that you always have to be grateful for what you have. And the only way to show that you're grateful is by helping other people ... who need your help and need your smile. That's what I want my kids to learn, is that you have to be grateful for what you have. And in order to receive, you have to give.

Q: Tell me about your first Thanksgiving here?

A: It was shocking, because as soon as you turn into the street, it's a different side of town. ... Just to come here to see all these people - old, young, families - it's just shocking, but on the other hand you feel great that you're able to help them.

Q: Do you have an experience here that stands out?

A: I was serving food, and there was this little girl. She was probably, like, five. She was sitting at a table and they were picking up plates. They were going to pick her plate up and she started crying ... I asked her (if she was full), and she said, "Yeah. But I want to take it home because I have my grandpa over there who couldn't come. And I want to take him some food to eat." And I said I'll give you a plate for your grandpa. And she said: "Can I take this, too, so I can have something to eat before I go to bed.

Q: How do the people let you know that they're thankful?

A: The way they show they're thankful, they always tell you "God bless you" ... That day, I get a thousand God-bless-yous in that four or five hours that I'm here. And you can tell by their faces how happy they are to get something to eat and something to take home. That makes my day.

Q: Have you ever experienced struggling during Thanksgiving? Do you know what it's like to go without?

A: When we first came to Stockton it wasn't easy. When I came to Stockton, I was 15 years old and I only had the clothes I had on. And that's all I had ... Just imagine how lucky I am, now.

Q: You said you work with networking group Comerciantes Unidos (United Merchants) before the big meal, too. What else do you do before Thanksgiving?

A: My Thanksgiving Day here starts the day before ... (St. Mary's) gives me a list of everything they need to finish up the dinner ... I go shopping the day before for everything they need and bring it in ... Comerciantes Unidos is the one that covers the bill ... I only do the shopping and I love to do the shopping.

Q: When you finish volunteering, do you go home and cook a Thanksgiving meal for the family?

A: I used to. I used to leave here around noon or 12:30 at the latest and finish up doing my dinner, but we would eat dinner around 6 o'clock. And then the family said it was kind of late to do dinner. I told them, I can't do it earlier, somebody will have to take over ... My oldest brother and my sister decided to take turns, and they've been doing it for the past 7 or 8 years ... and we only take a plate.

Q: Does volunteering leave you enough time to watch football on Thanksgiving?

A: I grew up with boys. I like football. But I don't have the time. Not on that day.